Sermons on Proverbs 16:1

… Many are the plans of the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19. The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. the Lord of hosts has sworn as I have planned so shall it be and as I have purposed so shall it stand so James says do not say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit don't say that don't say I'm going to go home after the meeting tonight or go to the motel and get a good night's rest. Don't say that. instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we will live I'm 79 I don't know if I'm going to finish this message right neither do you know if you're going to get out of that pew you don't know what is your life it is a vapor instead you ought to say if the Lord wills I'll stay alive for another 30 minutes and do this or that. …

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Nor should a true Christian relax his prayer through mental difficulties. I mean those perturbations which distract the mind and prevent the concentration of our thoughts. Such ills will happen to us. Some of us are often much depressed and are frequently so tossed to and fro in mind that if prayer were an operation which required the faculties to be all at their best, as in the working of abstruse mathematical problems, we could not, at such times, be able to pray at all. But, Brothers and Sisters, when the mind is very heavy, then is not the time to give up praying, but rather to redouble our supplications! Our blessed Lord and Master was driven by distress of mind into the most sad condition—He said, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death"—yet He did not, for that reason say, "I cannot pray" but, on the contrary, He sought the well-known shades of the olive grove and there unburdened His heavy heart and poured out His soul like water before the Lord! Never let us consider ourselves to be too ill or too distracted to pray. A Christian ought never to be in such a state of mind that he feels bound to say, "I do not feel that I could pray" or, if he does, let him pray till he feels he canpray. Not to pray because you do not feel fit to pray is like saying, "I will not take medicine because I am too ill." Pray for prayer! Pray yourself, by the Spirit's assistance, into a praying frame! It is good to strike when the iron is hot, but some make cold iron hot by striking. We have sometimes eaten till we have gained an appetite, so let us pray till we pray. God will help you in the pursuit of duty, not in the neglect of it. …

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rest assured that those are the best prayers in all respects, if they are earnest and sincere, which go most directly to the point. You know there is a way of praying in the closet and praying in the family in which you do not ask for anything. You say a great many good things, introduce much of your own experience, review the Doctrines of Grace very thoughtfully, but you do not ask for anything in particular. Such prayer is always uninteresting to listen to—and I think it must be rather tedious to those who offer it. A Negro, who was noted for his great earnestness in prayer, was once asked how it was that whenever he prayed, he seemed to be so earnest. And he said, "Because I always have an errand when I go to the King! I always have an errand. I go to Him knowing that I need something, and I ask Him for it, and I don't stop till He gives it to me. And if He does not give it to me, I ask Him again and again, for I know what I am doing." Of what use were it to keep on going in and out of a banker's door all day if you have no business to transact and nothing to get? But it is quite different when you go up to the counter with your check and receive in return the golden sovereigns. It would be very uninteresting to wait upon Her Majesty every morning and evening with an address which merely said, "Your Majesty's attached and most loyal subject," if you never asked for anything! …

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